Shopping for Success Bookies vs. On-line 09/16/12 (more...)

It does not matter what the $ value is of your unit. Successful sports bettors know the value of half a point on the spread or a penny on the money line. Successful bettors will be on the right side of a half point victory more times than not. He will win when others push and he will push when others lose. The successful sports investor will have at LEAST 3-5 sports books to shop at in order to lock in at the best line possible. Losing players well it is whenever the bookie gets around to calling you or you calling your bookie. Guess what if you have been dealing with your local for a while now he already knows your betting tendencies and has shaded the line against you even before you talk. On line you are just an anonymous account amongst thousands of others just the way I like it.
When you have an idea which way the line is going to move (after a while it is not that difficult to predict) you can time your entry into the market accordingly something you can never do with a bookie who is simply not available 24/7.
It is not unusual for a successful sports bettor to add 10+ units a year to his bottom line simply by shopping effectively. Assuming you are practicing effective money management and risking 2% on each play those 10 extra units will translate to a least a 20-30% swing in your return on investment not exactly petty cash just for shopping as effectively as possible.
They used to say about Wayne Gretzky that most hockey players skate to where the puck has travelled but Wayne would skate to where the puck is headed. The same applies to handicappers. For us the key is to project, anticipate and predict future events as opposed to looking in the rear view window and asking what happened.